The Bengals' royal line of wide receivers that shot off the blocks with the Olympic speed of Isaac Curtis in the early 1970s is now guaranteed to break the tape of the 2020s with Tuesday’s ground-breaking announcement that All-Pro Ja’Marr Chase and All-World Tee Higgins signed record deals.

After agreeing to make them the highest-paid receiver duo in NFL history, Bengals president Mike Brown had the smile of the 13-year-old who still puts a framed photo of the 1948 Cleveland Browns in a place of prominence in his Paycor Stadium library.

A generation before Curtis made them change the rules, Mike Brown's dad Paul Brown reinvented the pass game with three gifted wide receivers during that fall Dewey didn't defeat Truman.

Mac Speedie, Dante Lavelli and Dub Jones led the Browns' mauling of the All-America Conference with a then-shocking 28 points per game and a 14-0 record.

"That gives us a foundation to win games. They have to stop us. It's hard to do," Brown said during this week of history. "High-scoring offenses are exciting to watch. It's fun to hear the Bengals touchdown song. It's just a good time.

"It's hard to have what we have, and we feel good about it."

It's a smile that has spread up and down the line.

"This is history. No team has ever done this with their receivers. That's what makes me so happy," said Chad Johnson, the franchise's all-time leading receiver as well as a towering social media influencer. "I believe they can win it all … If we score 80, let's keep the other team under 70. And I'm OK with that because our identity is on offense."

Johnson's turn-of-the-century running mate, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, is a FOX analyst. But, more importantly, the man who lobbied the Bengals hard to take Higgins in the hours leading up to the first pick of the 2020 second round.

"If the offensive line and Joe (Burrow) stay healthy, they'll break Bengals records and NFL records," Houshmandzadeh said. "If we don't make the playoffs, I'll lose my mind because starting Thursday I'm going to be talking so much (bleep). Dude, it's really crazy."

You can argue that since the days Bengals founder Paul Brown teamed up with another Hall of Fame coach, Bill Walsh, in the early days of the franchise, no team since the 1970 merger has played pitch-and-catch as well.

You could also say that head coach Zac Taylor perfected it 54 years later when his team smashed all the Bengals' scoring records and had the most prolific passing team in a passing sport.

They're the only AFC team to have four wide receivers with at least four Pro Bowls. Curtis (four), Chad Johnson (six), A.J. Green (seven) and Chase (four) did it with four different quarterbacks.

Which makes sense. According to Elias, the Bengals are the only team since the merger to draft five quarterbacks who have made at least 69 starts with the team that drafted them.

"It's been a hallmark of our team that we've not only had good receivers, but good quarterbacks as well. We focus on it," Brown said. "I don't dismiss the importance of other aspects of the team. You have to have a little bit of everything if you're going to get it across the line. This is an excellent foundation."

It's not only the Big Four, but a stunning array of supporting players.

Before they traded him to the Chargers for Coy Bacon's 22 sacks, Charlie Joiner ran with Curtis and is still the only Bengals wide receiver in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Chad Johnson, the first receiver in this century to lead his conference in yards four straight seasons, had Houshmandzadeh, and he once led the NFL in catches.

Green, the first receiver in history to make the Pro Bowl in his first seven seasons, had Marvin Jones, and he once had four touchdowns in a game. Green also had Mohammad Sanu, who also ran for two touchdowns and threw for two touchdowns in his Bengals career.

And Chase, of course, has Higgins. Or does Higgins have Chase?

There's also Cris Collinsworth, who had the first three 1,000-yard seasons in Bengals history. Carl Pickens shares the club's single-season touchdown record with Chase. In the black hole after Green got hurt and before Chase and Higgins, Tyler Boyd had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons on the way to becoming the seventh Bengal with 6,000 receiving yards, more than Houshmandzadeh.

And, for the time being, Chase and Higgins.

"We have some (receivers) up on our Ring of Honor," Brown said. "There are more waiting in the wings who could very well be up there, too. As time goes on, the two we just signed would be candidates."

In the four years they've been teammates with Burrow doing the launching, Chase and Higgins lead all other NFL duos with 658 catches, 9,112 yards, and 74 touchdowns.

In the first four seasons Johnson and Houshmandzadeh were together from 2004-07, they went for 725 catches, 9,613 yards and 65 touchdowns from Carson Palmer.

But they had only one more year together, an injury-plagued 2008, and then Houshmandzadeh was gone in free agency. After 2010, The Ocho was gone after a Mike Brown-Bill Belichick heart-to-heart trade talk in the weeks after they drafted Green.

"I was thinking about that today. What if I had stayed? We win the playoff game against the Jets if I'm on the team," Houshmandzadeh said of the 2009 Wild Card loss. "Chad would have stayed longer. I've said it 1,000 times. I screwed up. But you don't know you're screwing it up until you screw up.

"The Bengals always pay their quarterback. They always pay a receiver. Now they're paying both receivers … You'd have say the only team that's close with two like that is the Eagles with A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith."

That's why Houshmandzadeh has so much regard for Higgins. Higgins, the guy he worked with before the 2020 draft, is staying with his quarterback and his running mate.

"I give Tee credit. He's the reason this got done. He wanted to be here," Houshmandzadeh said. "He fired the best agent in the league (David Mulugheta) and he hung in there because he wanted to stay."

When it came time to make that 33rd pick in 2020, Houshmandzadeh told Taylor what he's saying now. Higgins is a No. 1 receiver who runs unbelievably smooth routes for such a big (6-4, 220 pounds) man. A shooting guard with a power forward's rebound radius.

So it is no coincidence that Higgins, Tennessee's Mr. Basketball, grew up idolizing the 6-4 Green's silky in-the-lane moves. If there's a combination of Chad Johnson and A.J. Green, you're probably looking at Higgins.

It's like they went to the drawing board and got the blueprints of the best of their best.

"I think that's probably true," Houshmandzadeh said. "Chad's a Hall-of-Famer. You've got guys on the ballot (Reggie Wayne, Torry Holt) that I love, but they weren't Chad."

No one has come off the line of scrimmage before or since like Johnson. It was as if he plucked an invisibility cloak from Hogwarts. But he has a word on Green.

"A.J. was nice. People forget about him because he was so quiet. But he was amazing," said Johnson, who admits his skein of four straight yardage crowns is special because, "Nobody did that talking (bleep) like I did."

It's no secret Johnson considers Chase the greatest receiver in Bengals history. He's told him on the air. And he says Higgins is close.

"I look at Chase and Tee, and they do things I can never do," Johnson said. "I can never high-point the ball like Tee does. They say that's a 50-50 ball. With Tee Higgins, it's 80-20. I could practice since I was four years old and I could never do what Chase does after the catch. Bouncing off people. I could never do that."

Chase, latest in the line, caught the eye of the first late last season when he broke Curtis' Bengals record of 10 touchdowns of at least 60 yards.

"I enjoy watching them. All of their receivers. They have two No. 1 receivers with Tee Higgins. When they get clicking, they're tough to stop. The coaches do a good job getting them open," Curtis told Bengals.com last November.

"The biggest thing you have to have as a long-ball receiver is speed. They can run. They can take the top off the defense," Curtis said. "(Chase) has great speed and a great quarterback who can anticipate and get it to him. He does a lot of things. Not just go deep. He can run crossers, the stuff underneath. You have to play him honest, especially if it's one-on-one, or different zones. He runs good routes. Very talented. He'll break every record for the Bengals if he and Burrow stay healthy."

Chad Johnson has no idea why the Bengals get all these receivers no matter the era.

"You've got to say guys like Mike Brown and Duke Tobin have the eye," Johnson said. "We'll probably hit again."

Houshmandzadeh looks at his own career for an answer.

"I was hurt the first three years of my career. Any team other than the Bengals and I probably get released," Houshmandzadeh said. "But they have patience with players. They give them the time to develop."

(You can put Boyd on that list, too, which is why Houshmandzadeh is holding out hope for another of his workout clients, last year's third-rounder Jermaine Burton.)

One thing Houshmandzadeh knows for sure. The line is going to keep going.

"It's what sports is all about," Houshmandzadeh said. "I'm not mad Ja'Marr and Tee are going to pass me and Chad. That's what it's all about. In 15 years, maybe it's my kid (11-year-old Krew has size 11 cleats), maybe not.

"It's about making goals and you've got to go meet them. Luckily, the Bengals have had players at positions when you bring in guys you've got people you can chase."

For Mike Brown, that framed photo stretching over the decades like Higgins at the pylon or bouncing through the years like Chase in the secondary might as well be now.

"In Zac, we have a coach that appreciates the passing game and emphasizes it," Brown said. "When you see it, you become a believer. At least I have. This is where our future is headed. And I feel good about it."